9 comments:

Unbelievable. And what a lovely garden. These people either have no space in the back or not enough sun to support a garden. I know a family who moved into an upper middle class neighborhood and wasn't permitted to hang wash on a clothesline in the backyard. (Does anybody hang wash outside anymore? I do.) I suppose they would send a SWAT Team if these folks hung wash out in the front yard.

I hang my washed jeans, towels, and t-shirts over a porch rail in back. It probably breaks neighborhood rules and standards, but we're in the middle of a drought and heat wave, and I can't see firing up an electric dryer. And I think they're fresher when they're sun-dried.

A few gardeners who commented on the original piece mentioned that having a garden so close to the street could be problematic due to pollution, grime etc. from the asphalt. I'm not sure how much this is true or not, but I thought it was interesting.

That would never happen in the good ol USA. Oh, wait: "Denise Morrison was a gardener who had planted over 100 varieties of edible and medicinal plants in both her front and back yards. She received a complaint letter from the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma and met with the officials to find out what the problem was. They told her it all had to go and was going to be destroyed, so she called police to get a citation. At the first court hearing, the judge told both parties to return to court two months later, but the next day city workers cut down most of the plants including fruit and nut trees. At the time, she was unemployed and was eating from the garden." --http://www.examiner.com/article/fight-for-the-right-to-front-yard-vegetable-gardening

I am always surprised that Americans, who are all about freedom and individual responsibility, let themselves be (voluntarily) harnessed by idiotic rules of local ordinances and HOAs. No veggies in your front yard, no flags here, no rain barrels in the yard, no solar cells on the roof, no snow shovels on the front porch in Spring, only 8 colors allowed for shutters, no change of colors on your house at all. Not to mention the parking rules and regulations. Few of these things are a problem in communist Cuba, yet the are heavily debated and lobbied in town hall meetings and HOA meetings. So much for freedom.

Just to contract, as I moved from this side to the news, I found this article:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/22/ron-johnson-high-capacity-magazines_n_1692810.html______________"Does something that would limit magazines that could carry 100 rounds, would that infringe on the constitutional right?" host ... asked [US Sen] Johnson ..."I believe so," Johnson replied.______________Now, I do not want to debate gun rights here, but it is staggering that in a country where gun rights are debates in these terms, people get in trouble over hanging their laundry or growing some veggies in their yard...

The only problem area I see is the band of land within 1 metre of the road. I believe that often this part of the lot actually belongs to the municipality. There are sometimes pipes below that stretch (I've even seen manholes on some lots in my Quebec town) that need to be serviced occasionally.

Another reason why the municipality has some control on it is that if the city adds sidewalks to the street it wouldn't have to expropriate each property and undo the landscaping.

Snow-clearing is also a factor to consider with that part, especially in Quebec. Oh, and perhaps root penetration into the asphalt.

"Tai-wiki-widbee" is an eclectic mix of trivialities, ephemera, curiosities, and exotica with a smattering of current events, social commentary, science, history, English language and literature, videos, and humor. We try to be the cyberequivalent of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.

The 2008 Weblog Awards

Category: Best New Blog

Translate

Search TYWKIWDBI

About Me

I'm using an old photo of my grandfather as an avatar; he would have been amused.
Readers - especially old friends, classmates, students, former colleagues, and long-lost relatives - are welcome to email me via retag4726 (at) mypacks.net